


In the mourning

by quafflerain1044



Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Established Relationship, F/M, Fluff, Mentions of Death, POV Third Person
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-07
Updated: 2019-02-07
Packaged: 2019-10-24 00:00:25
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,636
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17693681
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/quafflerain1044/pseuds/quafflerain1044
Summary: The group has just arrived at Alexandria and everyone is having trouble adjusting to the place and coping with everything they've lost on the road so far.The reader and Daryl take some time to themselves to find comfort in each other's presence.





	In the mourning

Things had been really tense ever since arriving at Alexandria.

Everyone in the group could feel the looks the Alexandrians gave them, like they were wild animals you had to talk soft to so as not to get your hand bit. There was a little truth behind that, living on the outside for so long had made Rick and his group wary about their surroundings.

They were all tired, both physically and emotionally after having endured so much in such a short period of time with no opportunity to take a break.

(Y/N) sighed, looking out of the window of the house they were all camping in. They had been assigned two houses but the group was reluctant to separate so for the past 3 nights they had all been sleeping in the living room of one of the houses. She had offered to take first watch and was sitting on a windowsill, looking out at the dark, empty streets of the suburban neighborhood as the rest of her group slept scattered on different places all around the room.

She looked at Daryl, who was laying down on the floor with his arms crossed under his head and his eyes open, staring at the ceiling.

(Y/N) knew he was the one having most trouble adjusting to their new living situation. He felt trapped inside the walls surrounding the community, the fact that their  guns had been taken from them didn’t help much.

Things between them had been complicated since the Grady Memorial. She knew he was grieving the loss of Beth and even blamed himself for it, even if he had been the one who worked the hardest to get her back. No one could’ve predicted that Beth would try to kill Dawn and end up getting shot in the head herself.

She closed her eyes to keep the tears at bay as she remembered Maggie’s cries as she saw Daryl walk out of the hospital carrying her  little sister’s lifeless body. That had been a horrible loss for everyone at the group.

And then Bob and Tyreese had been bit.

When Aaron came to them, they had been more than a little cautious about it. Especially after the whole Terminus ordeal.

“Wanna go out for a smoke?” she heard Daryl’s voice from behind her and she looked around at him. He looked so tired, and she supposed all of them were. The road so far had been more than traumatizing and there weren’t enough hot showers and meals in the world to wash away the losses they were mourning.

She nodded and followed the archer to the porch, both sitting on the wooden swing that overlooked the street. She sat with her knees raised, hugging them close to her body to keep some warmth. It was a cold, clear night and she knew they should be relieved not to have to endure the upcoming winter on the road.

Daryl took out a cigarette from a pack he kept on his shirt pocket and lit it up with a match. Taking in a long breath, she watched him as he blew the smoke out and offered her the cigarette.

“No, thanks” she denied it. Her grandfather had died of lung cancer and that had been enough for her to swear off the death sticks when she was a teenager. She supposed the second-hand smoke wasn’t gonna help much, but she wanted to go out with the archer anyway.

Their opportunities for alone time had been scarce since they reunited. That added to the fact that Daryl had seemed to close himself and pushed her out after Beth. She knew it was his way of trying not to get hurt anymore and deal with the pain but it still stung to be pushed away by the one person that gave her a reason not to end it all with a bullet to her brain.

They were in silence for a while, just looking out at the street as he finished his cigarette and put it out on the armrest of the swing.

“‘M sorry” he muttered, barely audible and if it weren’t for the fact that she was sitting right next to him, she wouldn’t even have heard him speak at all.

“What for?” she asked, leaning her head on her knees and looking at him in the eyes through his dirty, long hair. He looked back at her for a few seconds before looking down to the floor and starting to bite his thumbnail in that nervous habit that she had come to know so well.

“For shutting you out” He said, “I know it’s hurting ya and it kills me to do it and I’m sorry” she could hear his voice cracking. “I just- after losing ya’ after the prison fell, I looked for you but I didn’t find ya and when it was too late Beth and I we just got out of there” she could see that he was starting to let some tears spill and it broke her heart because she didn’t blame him for it.

She had left with Tyreese, the girls and Judith. She had also wanted to look for Daryl but Tyreese had insisted that he was probably out already and he couldn’t take care of the girls alone. She reluctantly followed him out of the prison them, deciding that she’d help him find somewhere to stay and then she’d come back to look for the archer.

“Hey-hey-hey, it’s ok, baby” she said, turning him around and wrapping her arms around his shoulder, letting him rest his head on her shoulder and cry. She moved up to straddle his lap and started to softly card her fingers through his shaggy hair as she hushed him. “I know you wanted to look for me, I wanted to look for you too. But we found each other in the end and we’re ok, we’re ok”

“I can’t- I can’t take care o’ ya” he said with a sob as his shoulders shook with the force of his cries, “I tried to take care of Beth and she died and I couldn’t do anything to stop it”

“That wasn’t your fault, Daryl, it wasn’t” she whispered softly in his ear, “no one could’ve stopped what happened there, I know, I saw what happened”

“I can’t lose you too, (Y/N)” he said, his voice so raw with pain and she ached to be able to ease just a little bit of it. If she was given the chance to take all his pain and carry it herself, she’d do it in a second. “Ye’r everything I have left”

She knew how dangerous it was for your whole reason to be alive to be a person, even more so in a world like this. She was too tired though, and Daryl was one of the only good things that had happened to her since this whole hell started. That wasn’t something anyone could take for granted.

“I’m so tired of losing people” she whispered, as they both hugged each other tighter and silently cried. “But I know that you and I will always have each other’s backs, baby, it’s always been like that”

He nodded and looked up at her, he’d never get over how damn lucky he was to have her. “I love you”

A slow tear fell from her eye and she put her hand on his cheek, one of her fingers grazed his lips

“I love you too” she said and she leaned over to press a soft kiss to his lips. He hummed into the kiss and pulled her closer, wrapping his arms tighter around her waist as she brought her hands into his hair and pulled on it a little. The kiss quickly turned into something hungry and desperate as he opened his mouth to let her tongue in when she sucked and licked at his lip the way she knew drove him crazy. She ground her hips down onto his growing bulge and he let his hands travel down to her ass.

The moment was over as soon as they heard the door to the house open and Glenn step out, spotting them in the dark and quickly turning around as he saw them. “I- uhm, I’m sorry, I came to tell you I’d take over watch for you, (Y/N)” he said, slightly embarrassed.

“Thanks, Glenn” she said as she dropped her head down on Daryl’s shoulder, disappointed that they had been interrupted. She felt him carefully tuck his hands under her thighs as he stood up and let her down in front of him. He kissed her forehead and grabbed her hand.

“Let’s go get some sleep” he whispered as they both turned to walk back inside, she patted Glen on the back as they walked past him and gave him a soft smile.

“Goodnight, Glenn” she said.

“Yeah, goodnight guys” he said, clearing his throat.

They walked into the living room hand in hand and she grabbed a blanket from the coffee table that had been moved to make more space for the group. They chose a corner and laid down on it, Daryl used one of his arms as a pillow and (Y/N) rested her head on his chest as she dragged the blanket to cover both of their bodies. He gave her a last kiss to the top of her head and they both closed their eyes. She let his heartbeat lull her to sleep as both their breathings became more relaxed.

There were a lot of things wrong with the world, and the road ahead was bound to be long and difficult. But she knew that right there, with Daryl next to her, life couldn’t be too bad.


End file.
